Ally Anders

[PurpleRiver]

Name:	Ally Anders
Age:	26 in 2518
Gender:	Female
Occupation:	Pilot
Secondary:	Mechanic's Assistant
Appearance:	Ally has spent a vast portion of her life traveling the black, so keeping away from the harmful UV rays of the sun and eating packaged protein has kept her skin, especially her face, very healthy. She looks young, somewhere in her early twenties. Any flaws she does have - like the faint wrinkles she has from laughing and smiling so much - she covers with a good foundation. Other than that she doesn't wear much make-up, just a touch of mascara and lip colour. Her hair is dark brown and comes in a variety of styles. Her wardrobe is based around her dark-coloured jeans and black work boots. She pairs these with t-shirts or tanks, usually a plain dark colour, but sometimes with a funny slogan or movie reference slapped on. She has a short leather jacket in black that she almost always wears when off ship on the cooler temperature planets.
Avatar Name:	Jessica Alba
Equipment:	Ally will bring with her several changes of clothes as outlined above, as well as a few dresses varying in formality. She has several captures of friends and family. She also has a portable music player and Cortex link. She has an extremely dog-eared copy of the core flight training manual from when she trained as a pilot as well as a small collection of books on mechanics ranging from titles such as Ship Mechanics for Dummies to Advanced Space Ship Engineering. She will also pick up a copy of the flight manual specific to the ship she is hired to fly.
Initial Personality:	Ally is full of energy. She is fun, flirty and always has a smile for anyone who looks her way. She loves meeting new people and will always make an effort to get to know the people around her. She is genuinely interested in people's stories, though this can sometimes make her seem nosey. She is forthright and honest, and will speak her opinion with confidence. She tries to be respectful but her enthusiasm can sometimes make her tactless. People will also very quickly discover that her brother is her best friend, that she is angry at the Alliance for Miranda, and that she is eagerly waiting for love.
Underlying Personality:	Ally is a bright and shiny happy person. She doesn't hold grudges, she endeavours to see the good in people and she is always up for a laugh. People who know Ally will know that she is always there if you need her. She might not always understand, but she does her best to listen and be a shoulder to lean on if you need it. Contrastly, Ally isn't one to talk much about her own problems. Even the people who think they know Ally really well won't know about the darker things she's been through, or the heavier worries on her mind. She'll talk quite openly about her boy troubles, though - Ally loves girl talk. It's also obvious she loves flying. The faster, the better. It's her passion and addiction. Ally values manners, politeness and being considerate of other people. She also values honesty, so if you do something to upset her she will call you out on it. She used to be really sensitive when she was younger, but now she just doesn't put up with anyone she thinks is being mean. Of course, she's so annoyingly nice that even if she doesn't like you at first, she'll just keep trying to find something she does like about you. Personality-wise her greatest strength is her optimism. Like everyone she might have a bad day every now and then, but her default setting is cheerful. She just enjoys life and refuses to focus on the negative. She really wants to fall in love and raise a family, but feels like it will never happen for her. She's had plenty of romantic entanglements in her time - she falls in love so easily - but she is constantly being left by them for one reason or another. The one person she thought she had been in love with as a teenager, when she met him later in life, had really been no more than crush. She is hard on herself if she makes mistakes or does something wrong. Ally fought in the war, on both sides. She felt so guilty for leaving the Alliance Air Force because she was a coward. She never hated the Alliance, she just hated the killing. When she saw the Miranda Broadcast, she mourned for days. Now she hates the Alliance.
Known History:	Ally was born on Persephone to a wealthy family. She grew up in a high-class area, close to Eavesdown Docks. Her father was a Captain with the Alliance Air Force and was killed in action late in 2507. Her mother was a socialite with many charitable causes to her name. She was remarried in 2514 to a prominent business man. Ally has one brother - Dean Anders. She also has one half-sister on her mother's side. Ally did modestly well in High School and joined the Alliance Air Force in 2506. She was dishonourably discharged for disobeying orders and stealing Air Force property. Criminal charges were dropped after the war ended. From October 2511 to the summer of 2512 Ally worked at Persephone Ship Repair. After that, she was the registered pilot of Wan Nao until it was grounded at the end of 2514. At points during this time she was officially registered as 'Acting Captain'. Wan Nao was registered as a Companion Guild vessel. She was the registered pilot of The Watch for the first six months of 2515. She was registered as the second pilot of Last Hope since early in 2518 until July that year.
Other History:	Ally had a generally happy childhood, though her mother was a functional alcoholic and her father was often away for long periods of time as apart of the Alliance's air force. She was, and still is, extremely close to her brother. When the war broke out in 2506 Ally was eager to follow in her father's footsteps. She was months shy of her 17th birthday, but with her father's permission and a few lies, she signed up to the Air Force anyway. She did well in basic training and was highly praised for her skilful flying. On her first few runs she was the best pilot in her squadron. However, the first time the occupants of the ship she shot down were unable to 'bail out', she was overcome by an attack of conscience, and refused to shoot at the next ship, as she saw it as killing. She did not return to the Alliance base and was then dishonorably discharged. Overcome with guilt at her cowardice, Ally couldn't face going home. She was also afraid of being arrested. She very rarely talks about this 'dark period' of her life, even to those she is close with. She drank, purposely got herself into dangerous situations she had to fight her way out of, and experimented with drugs. Lucky for her, her brother Dean got wind of what she was doing. He saved her. She still didn't return home, but she was out of the darkness. And then her father went missing in action. It was weeks before the body was recovered. Ally finally went home. There she was reunited with Dean, only to discover that he was flying for the Independents now. At first she was disgusted, but Dean was her brother. And he convinced her that the Browncoats weren't as bad as Alliance propaganda made them seem. Ally agreed to fly for the Browncoats too - but only medEvac ships. She spent the rest of the war doing this. In 2511, Ally was ready to fly into Serenity Valley to give air support to the failing troops and pick up the many wounded, but her superiors told her it was too dangerous and not worth the ships. Ally came to believe that it doesn't matter what side you're on; no side in a war is the right one. After that she worked on ships planetside for a while, wanting to develop her mechanic skills. But she got restless, and had to take to the black again. On Wan Nao she had quite a few crushes and heartbreaks, but none so annoying as the friendship she wished had been more with mechanic Jared. When Wan Nao was grounded they stuck together for a while on a ship called the Watch. Six months later, an old friend of the Anders' family brought some difficult news for Ally. The woman Ally had called mother all her life was not her biological mother. Ally was never supposed to find out, but her biological mother was sick and desperate for a donor. Ally agreed to be tested, was a match, and as a result saved her mother's life. Since Ally had never gotten on very well her mother, she was excited to get to know her biological mother. She too had been in the Alliance Air Force, and now retired she owned a transport company. Ally spent over a year traveling with her mother and crew During this time, she ran into a man she had met during the war. For years she had held a torch for this guy even though they had only spent a few days on leave together. She had a romantic notion that they would end up together in the end. They spent six months together as a couple on his ship, but when he proposed, Ally couldn't say yes. She loved him, maybe even still does, but she didn't feel the bond of friendship with him that she felt a husband and wife should have. For the first time she could remember, it was her that left. She moved back home to Persephone and called some old friends. Jared answered.
Skills:	Ally is a great pilot. She has a penchant for speed (dare I say a 'need') and might not always be the person you want flying your ship because of this. But even though she is extremely cocky in the pilot's seat and she likes pulling off tricky maneuvers, she's not stupid and would never risk damaging the ship or hurting her crew. She is very good with engine maintenance. She's alright with basic repairs and might even be good enough to do these without supervision, but she's untested. And she does still get confused with the tricky bits. She's lived and worked on ships for a long time now, so she's earned the title of well-traveled spacer. It's been a while, but she was brought up on the border by core parents, so she still retains the learned Core behaviours and skills, like dancing, dressing, behaving. She just doesn't like doing them. Ally knows how to defend herself in hand-to-hand and had a lot of experience in bar-fights. But, that was over ten years ago now.
Weaknesses:	Ally is an awful cook. Even with instructions she gets impatient, and simply turns the heat up as high as it goes. She can't understand why this always results in food uncooked in the middle and burnt on the outside. So she sticks to instant meals and microwaves. She has a major weakness for good-looking men. Especially pretty-boy blondes. She has little will-power when it comes to sweets and chocolate. Ally has shot guns back in basic training and on the firing range to maintain a good aim, but she has never shot another person, and is completely against killing. Even in self-defence she doesn't know if she would be able to do so. She has a thing about Companions. She doesn't like them. She hates to be reminded of the fact that she actually technically worked for them for two years.